In her latest report to Congress , IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson made the provocative suggestion that her agency completely rethink its mission: “It should transform itself as a tax agency from one that is designed around nabbing the small percentage of the population that actively evades tax to

Back in the day—say 2011--tax fraud was pretty straightforward. Taxpayers deliberately understated income or overstated deductions to cheat the system for their own benefit. Not anymore. Now, a growing share of such fraud is about crooks using the identities of innocent taxpayers to steal money. If

My dad taught a teenage me an important lesson when he helped me file my first federal income tax return. I earned the minimum wage at a part-time job, and didn’t have to file. But he explained that I should file, knowing my effort would be rewarded. “You don’t earn enough to owe income taxes,” he

In Nevada, the GOP governor ’ s $1 billion business tax hike wins support. The state senate passed Governor Brian Sandoval’s plan to shift the state’s flat $200 business license fee to a version of a gross receipts tax. According to the measure, which would raise nearly $1 billion over 2 years, the

No Virginia. The One Percent don’t dodge federal taxes . In 2013, they paid 35.7 percent of their income in federal taxes. Low-income households don’t dodge, either. While many paid no income tax, nearly all paid payroll tax. You can start your Tax Day exploring these and other common myths as TPC’

The IRS and the ACA: Working hard and working well. The IRS, thanks to years of preparation since the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, has managed the current tax filing season smoothly, according to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen , even with new ACA burdens and IRS budget cutbacks . “It's

Is the IRS such a mess that the nation’s system of voluntary tax compliance is at risk? Will frustrated taxpayers rebel because they can’t get help with a revenue code they can’t understand? Will aggressive taxpayers who recognize that audit rates have plummeted to the lowest levels in years